Decoding the drive to freeze out unwanted GAA training trends

This week the GAA issued guidelines for appropriate and safe training for Gaelic games. We asked Michael Moynihan to decode those guidelines to find out if they’re an improvement on the old regime, and whether some carry a deeper message

The GAA’s Player Conference throws in today in Croke Park, with a range of speakers addressing issues affecting player preparation and fitness. It follows on from the guidelines issued jointly during the week by the GAA’s Medical, Scientific and Welfare (MSW) and National Games Development (NGD) Committees.

A quick look at those guidelines shows the pitfalls facing GAA teams all over Ireland: they want to use best practice, but some of the practices highlighted in the guidelines can be counter-productive, to say the least.